


Holding On to the Ghost of You

by reggie_the_sky_walrus



Category: The Evil Within (Video Game)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst, Attempted Murder, Drama, Drug Use, F/M, Flashbacks, Joseph Oda - Freeform, Julie Kidman - Freeform, Mental Health Issues, Mentioned Beyonce, Mentions of Implied Joseb, Mild Language, Murder Mystery, OC, Original Character(s), Past Abuse, Past Drug Addiction, Past Torture, Ruvik - Freeform, Sebastian Castellanos - Freeform, Seriously not a happy story, Slow Build, Someone stop me, This is one fucked up love story, Torture, Violence, but still mostly canon, mentioned past abuse, stupid nicknames, the evil within - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-11-30
Updated: 2014-12-06
Packaged: 2018-02-27 12:29:06
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 3
Words: 6,756
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2693009
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/reggie_the_sky_walrus/pseuds/reggie_the_sky_walrus
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"It has been said that time heals all wounds. I don't agree. The wounds remain. Time- the mind, protecting its sanity- covers them with some scar tissue and the pain lessens, but it is never gone." - Rose Kennedy</p><p>Catherine Hartley has been plagued with death and injustice her whole life, and she had hoped that she could bring peace to her already uncertain past. She works in shadows, haunted by nightmares that weren't visions created by her subconscious. She escaped it once, but now she throws herself back into the turmoil for reasons unknown to her. Maybe she needs closure. Maybe she wants to help. Or maybe curiosity killed the Cath. Whatever the reason, she's lost in her greatest nightmare yet, and this time she's not alone. </p><p>This time, it's not her nightmare after all.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

“…all units, all units 11-99, execute cover code 3. Beacon Mental Hospital.”

I woke up slowly, my brain trying to catch up with my already opened eyes. Sunlight streamed through my apartment, smelling of smoke and laundry detergent. I always thought homes had a specific smell wherever you went, it was like its own aromatic signature. The people that lived inside often smelled the same as their home did. 

I just smelled like smoke and laundry detergent.

I went to scratch my arm, finding it feeling sightly numb. Once I realized that it was because of a needle injection, my wide eyes searched feverishly for the cause. I picked up the discarded needle with a trembling hand. I held it in my palm as I examined it, letting my failure burn into my eyes as my hands began to shake in anger and disappointment.

“God damn it!”

I threw the needle against my far wall, though hearing it shatter wasn't as fulfilling as I thought it would be. I lifted my trembling hands to cover my face, letting my anger drown out my disappointment in myself.

I thought I was done with this, but as it turns out, that’s the way my life seems to be going.

Nothing is ever really over for me.

I pushed away my remorse and tried to remember what the police comm had said.

“…Beacon Memorial Hospital…”

I let my hands fall onto my desk heavily. I laughed softly, breathy and humorless. It was better than crying.

I swiftly stood up from my old chair and threw on my jacket. I contemplated taking my gun, but I knew there’d be cops there and it’d be next to useless anyway. Trying to concentrate on breathing, I revved up my beloved (stolen) Harley and barreled down the street at a speed I knew wasn't legal.

I had no idea why I was going back.

I had to go back, and I didn't let myself dwell on the decision very long. I wouldn't follow through if I did.

Some things are better left unsaid.

—————

“Sir, you can’t put me in there, I don’t belong here. Please, let me go! I’m fine!”

I could barely stop myself from screaming at the ward dragging me up the steps, the door dark even in the sweltering sun of mid-summer. The two of them looked ahead with stony expressions, ignoring my pleas. There were two of them this time, having learned from their mistake before. Biting a ward probably wasn't the best way to show someone that you weren't crazy.

My cries were becoming more and more frantic as they pushed me through the door, meandering through the main waiting room and towards a hall down the east wing. I continued struggling against their vice-like grips, angry and fearful like a caged tiger about to be slaughtered. This wasn't right, none of it was. This place, these people, this situation…all of this was wrong.

They threw me into my room roughly, swiftly locking the door behind them as I scrambled to get up.

“Let me out! You can’t do this to me! I’m right, I know I am!” I pounded against the door fiercely until I couldn't feel my knuckles anymore. I feverishly glanced around my small room, feeling it grow even more constricting as I tried not to cry. “Please…” No one was listening. “You have to…you have to…believe me.”

No one ever did.

—————

I knew something was wrong the moment I stopped in front of the gate. It was almost nostalgic, just not in The Beatles-kind of way. More Nightmare on Elm Street. 

I let my Harley idle as I tried to relax my muscles. I ran a hand through my newly-growing hair as a half-hearted attempt to calm myself down. My extremely annoying self-preservation instincts were all put screaming at me to jump on my bike and drive the hell away from this God-forsaken nightmare, but I pushed all of my thoughts and memories roughly into a very small space in my mind that I could easily ignore.

I hesitated before I ran my hand over the iron gate, and I knew the rain wasn’t what was making it feel like I was caressing icicles. This place radiated a certain chill, like when you shivered for no reason in the supermarket or some other random place when there wasn't a reason to be cold in the first place. It just…was, for lack of a more eloquent way to put it.

I pushed my hood over my head, flipping my bangs out of my eyes impatiently as I pushed the gate open. Abandoned police cars littered the courtyard, some even with their doors left gaping open and lights blaring. I tiptoed through them cautiously, careful to stay behind them incase there was a lone police officer still outside.

There wasn’t.

I shakily climbed the stairs, resolve beginning to diminish. I hesitated in front of the door, closing my eyes angrily as I tried not to let this awaken past nightmares that I locked with the rest of my survival instincts. 

I didn't open my eyes until I had taken my first step into the main waiting room.

I couldn't really say with complete confidence that this was the stupidest thing I had ever done, but it was pretty damn high up on the list.

The smell hit me before anything else did, as I opened my eyes looking straight ahead. I was short, but I wasn't short enough to be eye level with the dead bodies on the ground. It took an amount of self-control I didn't think I possessed to not gag and/or run out of the hell hole that was Beacon Mental Hospital while I still had the chance. Instead, I did what any suicidal idiot would do and continued on, deliberately not looking at any of the people lying in pools of their own blood below me.

My nagging self-preservation instincts were starting to fire back up again, and my fears began to resurface as I attempted to not drag my boots in strangers’ blood. My doubts were swiftly cut short by the sounds of people directly down the hall from me. If they were police officers, they were probably in the security room. That’s where they all usually went first.

I crouched and backed myself into the wall adjacent to the room, careful not to let them see me but close enough that I could observe them. I was only able to see two men clearly and the legs of another on the ground, and I wasn't so sure if that one was dead or alive. One of them looked around their surroundings suspiciously as if he were in some sort of covert spy operation with the fate of the planet hanging in the balance, but for me it was just hard to take him seriously with those awful glasses he was sporting. I could only catch a glimpse of the back of the other standing man, dominating the small room.

I edged closer to the room, careening my neck to hear what they were talking about. I was growing increasingly impatient, and continued in my attempt to close in around the door.

“…I’ve got him. The security cameras might-“

“Shit.”

I had managed to trip over myself as I tried to get closer to the doorway, and now I was on my back outside the threshold with two guys pointing guns at me. Not the best way to start the day.

I balked at their stern faces, collected and business-like. I tried an open smile, but it wavered due to the fact that I was a few feet from being shot. “Fellas, please. I can easily explain this…uh…interesting situation. You see, I was just-“ 

“Catie? Catie…Hartley?”

My eyes snapped up to the bigger detective dangerously, my natural fear towards badges and guns in my face numbed by the spark of my surprised anger. I opened my mouth to let loose a string of curse words to find out how the hell this bastard knew my name, but I balked due to my sudden realization of the cop’s identity.

“Seb?” I started, in a mix between disbelief and a misplaced form of relief. Glasses Guy gave him the same look, just with less relief and more annoyance.

“I thought you were dead, Catie. You…disappeared,” he said roughly, lowering his gun to his side. His partner did the same with a scowl. The small bit of happiness that his presence and familiar comfort had graced me with was swiftly taken away, replaced by doubt and words left unsaid. He didn't know anything.

“Abracadabra,” I grunted in what I attempted to be a nonchalant shrug. I brushed myself off once I had planted my feet firmly on the ground, and I tried a non-caring smirk. He didn't need to know anything.

“We don’t have time for this, Castellanos. We need to check the monitors,” Glasses Guy berated, turning away from me. The detective followed suit, but not before he gave me a look that I couldn't place, something like an unspoken question he already knew the answer to. I knew I was going to be in for the interrogation of my young life when this was over. He moved towards the monitors to examine them, and I soundlessly made my way into the room to join the two detectives. I very astutely avoided my gaze from the man lying limply against the wall, considering the fact that I had seen enough dead bodies to last a lifetime, thank you very much.

I tried looking over Seb’s shoulder as he played back the tape, but I wasn't able to see very much. He was a lot bigger than I was, making sharing the screen a difficult task to accomplish. I felt an unwarranted chill go down my spine for the second time that day, but this one was somehow different than the one I had at the gate. That was just nostalgia, this…this felt like something different entirely. Not different, however. It was much stronger than what I had felt at the gate. It had more in common with a memory you tried to forget. Like a nightmare you can’t shake off the next morning. Every time you close your eyes it’s burned into the back of your eyelids, waiting for you to fall asleep so it can pick up where it left off the night before.

I only had time to whip my head behind me to lock onto his almost translucent gaze, too afraid to scream but not numb enough to try not to remember.

“Ruvik.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello! Thank you so much for reading! Though I have added an original character, the plot is not going to deviate very much from the original gameplay until around the very end (probably). I'm planning on writing throughout the entire game, though I might skip around a bit. Flashbacks are indicated by the breaks in the chapter using a line of hyphens. Thanks again for reading, and check back soon!
> 
> Disclaimer for this chapter and the rest of the chapters to come: I do not own any part of The Evil Within (except for my OC) or any mentioned references towards non-fictious things or people, living or dead (or undead).


	2. Chapter 2

I woke up slowly, my brain trying to catch up with my already opened eyes. 

There was no sunlight.

And it most definitely did not smell like smoke and laundry detergent.

Chains swayed in front of my vision, blurred and wavering as it took me a moment to reorient myself. You don’t normally wake up with a searing headache threatening to split your head open between your eyes while you were hanging upside down in what appeared to be a very unsanitary meat locker.

I wheezed a bit, trying to suppress a cough as I started to gag. Tears crawled down the sides of my forehead into my hair as my eyes watered, and I tried to breathe deeply to calm myself down. Finding myself sufficiently relaxed (or as relaxed as i possibly could be in a situation like this), I proceeded to lift myself up silently to examine my bindings. I would have scoffed if I didn't hear heavy footsteps approaching a few feet away from me.

Deciding to scorn my captor’s poor choice in underestimating me later, I quickly untied the flimsy rope that hung around my ankles tightly. Once I had successfully dropped to the ground without winding myself, I stayed close to the floor as I glanced around the chilled room. I spotted Seb a few (hopefully dead) bodies away from me, and I was able to carefully crawl towards him. I cautiously avoided the random hands reaching towards me from their detached bodies, and I was doing pretty okay until I felt something against my ear.

I froze on instinct, or at least, whatever instinct I hadn’t bundled up and thrown over a cliff like an unwanted kitten to drown. Well now I just made myself sad on top of the fact that something foreign had graced my left ear.

I brought my hand up to touch the offended ear, pulling it back to the front of my face to see what had caused such a disruption. The deep red of the stain on my index finger was enough information for me to piece together. I glanced up at the body above me in horror, biting my lip to stifle my scream as I noticed the blood trickling down the deceased person’s hand. It beat steadily onto whatever was below it, presently being my forehead. I cringed, biting my lip hard as I willed myself to continue crawling towards Seb, if only for the fact of just not getting a stranger’s blood on my person.

Finally reaching him, I pulled myself onto my feet unsteadily as the migraine began to kick in again. I rubbed my sleeve across my forehead angrily, trying to rid myself of the blood spot and the headache in vain. I felt off. Shaking my head quickly, I glanced up at the bindings hindering the unconscious detective.

“You’ve got to be kidding me. He got steel cables?”

The sound of someone revving up a chainsaw in the not-too-distant distance threw me violently from my misplaced jealousy, instead causing me to drop once more to the bloodied floor. I lifted my eyes to Seb’s face, who was sporting an oddly serene expression that clashed horribly with our surroundings.

“Seb…Seb! Sebby? Seb! Seb, you’ve got to wake up, man,” I crooned in a harsh whisper, attempting to slap him gently across his cheek. 

“Damn, Catie. The hell was that for?” Well, it might not have been as gentle as I was hoping it would be, but he came to in a timely manner nevertheless

“Sorry, but I need to get you out of here, and that’s a little hard to do when you’re dead weight,” I hissed, shooting up to fiddle with his bindings.

“There’s a knife over there,” he whispered roughly, still pawing at his offended cheek. I briskly strode over to it, ignoring the sickening sound it made when I pulled it out of the body it had previously been lodged in. I closed my eyes. This was becoming a reoccurring theme and I was none too pleased with it, to be perfectly frank. The sooner I could figure out where I was and how I could get out the sooner I could get back to the real issue at hand. Not that being stuck in a human meat fridge with a possible maniac that possessed a chainsaw wasn't a “real issue”, mind you.

I worked at the cable with quick movements, my ears pricked at any sound coming from across the room. Seb looked at me as I continued to try to free him, his expression questioning and searching. I could except as much. I tried not to look at him.

“Got it,” I huffed, breaking the braided steel as I knelt down to catch him as he dropped. It wasn't the smoothest of landings, but I served as a worthy cushion to the much heavier detective. He opened his mouth to say something, but was immediately cut off by the screeching sound of a chainsaw. He stumbled away from me as we both caught sight of the person in front of us, currently hacking away at what was most likely once a member of the swinging bodies around us. A troubled expression graced my companion’s face, clouded in thought.

“Stay behind me,” he ordered roughly, leaving no room for opposition. I would have retorted angrily just to spite him and counter his authority over me, but I knew it wasn't really the time.

We stayed close to the ground, slowly advancing on the monstrous being that continued cutting deeper into the body. As we closed in on the room, Seb let out a stopping arm suddenly, halting our progresses. He looked back at my annoyed face, mouthing ‘now? Really?’ in response to our sudden stop as he motioned with his head to something near Chainsaw Guy.

Keys.

I rolled my eyes in resignation as he gave me a self-satisfied smirk in return, and we slipped in the shadows of the room to wait until Chainsaw Guy recessed back into the darkness from whence it came. 

I let myself rise slightly from our crouched positions, back beginning to ache at the tension I had kept myself under. The detective reached up for the keys cautiously, and I cringed at the slight metallic sound it made as it settled into his hands. Eyes snapping up to meet his, he gave me a small nod in consideration before we continued back to the other room. 

There was a door on the side of the wall we had come from, rusted out and decaying. It seemed like everything in this foreign place seemed to be dead. I tried to open it, but it stood firm against my solid stance. Seb moved in front of me and attempted to unlock it with the keys we had stolen, and I prayed they worked.

Of course, they did.

He looked behind me with a gloating smirk, and I resigned myself to rolling my eyes in reply. We weren't exactly out of this damn place yet.

Of course, it could have been going better if Seb hadn't tripped an alarm with his first step into the newly uncovered hallway.

I cast my gaze around wildly, fear bleeding into panic as Chainsaw Guy appeared just feet away from us.

“Shit,” was all Seb had time to say before he grabbed me hurriedly by the arm and threw me into a sprint down the hall. I didn't question where I was supposed to be going, instead I let my dread guide me blindly through my panic-stricken haze. I heard Seb cry out in pain before he collided with me, barely escaping the fate of a fall as I regained my balance. I repositioned him to lean against me as we stumbled away from the chainsaw-wielding lunatic before a gate was slammed down to separate us from our would-be murderer.

I almost smiled in relief.

Almost.

I screwed up my face in concentration as the walls of the hallways converted into what appeared to be Spiny Saws of Death, and I grunted in annoyance. Sparing no time to make angered jibes at the extremely heavy detective currently latched onto me, I rushed us down the hall as the Spiny Saws of Death began to close in on us. Panic caught in my throat once again, and I knew I had to think fast before we ended up being ground meat for Chainsaw Guy. In a blind panic I caught a glimpse of a hatch in the floor, throwing it open and vaulting inside before I even knew what was happening.

I heard Seb sputter roughly beside me, eyeing me with a interrogative look that screamed the need for an explanation on our current predicament.

“What? I mean, at least we’re…kind of safe,” I retorted, refusing to let him win after I had just dragged him out of some twisted human meat fridge. He should be acting a whole lot more grateful, come to think of it. He moved away from me with a wince as he attempted to climb up the ladder that was attached to the pool of blood and random body parts we were wading in, and I followed close behind as I touched his shoulder in a concerned gesture.

“Hey, are you okay?”

“Fine. We need to keep moving,” he replied gruffly, moving his way outside the room. So that was the way it was going to be. Once we got into the new, more well-lit room, the angry sounds of Chainsaw Guy became a lot more apparent. I wasn't exactly planning a reunion with him anytime soon to say the least.

“Get in,” Seb commanded, pushing me into a locker before he joined the one resting beside it. I held my breath as the maniac thrashed around the room angrily, practically growling at our disappearance. The light tilted dangerously, casting shadows around the small room. Chainsaw Guy suddenly bolted out of the room with renewed vigor, and I stumbled out in response. I gave a slight nod to Seb as he got out of his own locker. We were going to need to move fast if we wanted to get out of here.

Alive, that is.

We crouched behind a counter in what appeared to be a hospital room, begging the question as to whether we were still in the Beacon Mental Hospital or not. Putting this out of my mind until later, I spotted an exit on the wall adjacent to us. Motioning to Seb, I darted away from our hiding spot as Chainsaw Guy had his back to us. We carefully made our way to the exit, wary of our enemy. I let the detective breathe before we moved on, a note of worry resonating in my chest. I didn't have time for that now.

Chainsaw Guy must have picked up on our movement, because soon enough we were barreling through the new hallway with a blind sense of direction. I threw open a door to our right as he grew closer, finding that the space it led to was certainly wider but blocked with discarded wheelchairs and gurneys. 

I scowled as I helped Seb hobble around the obstacles, but we were being tailed closely. The lunatic was gaining on us, and it was happening way faster than it should have. I stifled the panic that threatened to engulf me like flames, continuing to stumble down the hallway until we came to an illuminated elevator.

“Finally,” I sighed with exhaustion, beating the button with more force than necessary. I figured that you’re pretty beyond the point of caring about the well-being of an elevator button when you’re being chased by a monster with a chainsaw.

I managed to throw Seb in just before the gates closed, joining him as Chainsaw Guy tried to cut the iron gates in vain. I let myself slide down to a sitting position on the ground facing the wounded detective, breathing heavily as the elevator ascended.

“Well,” I said, trying to escape the stifling silence, “that was fun.”

He just gave me an endearing look in return, attempting to stand as the gates parted into a dimly lit hallway. I moved to help him, but was immediately rebutted.

“I’m fine, Catie,” he said softly, almost an apology on his lips, but not quite. I decided to take it as it was for right now and laid off. I let him lead us down the hall, but we only got a few steps in before the entire building shook. It felt similar to an earthquake, but more sudden and much stronger in force. The windows that had been lined with dust shattered, raining down on us like bits of sunlight. 

We broke into a sprint pretty much after that.

The surges continued as we reentered the main room of the hospital, barreling towards the entrance to the building. The light from outside was blinding, but I still was able to make out the smoke billowing from the buildings in the distance like silk in the wind as they started to crumble. I didn't have enough time to adjust before we were being yelled at by a guy in an ambulance.

“Detective! Get in, get in!”

The only thing that kept me still standing there was the next shock wave, jolting my bones as I pulled Seb with me towards the vehicle. We were getting the hell away from here, freak earthquake or not. Another surge forced the guy to drive the ambulance forward as our surroundings began to crack and crumble around us. I felt Seb’s strong arms envelope me as he threw me in none too gently through the passenger window, following me in moments later.

I felt the car violently swerving and being thrown against the current of the supposed earthquake, everything loud in my ears but even louder in my head.

I let myself sink down from the seat as I curled my hands around my head, pulling at my hair in a silent panic as I tried not to remember. I had no idea where we had been, what had just happened, where we were going or what the hell was going on. Everything was starting to blur together in a way that made everything so much harder to understand, but not enough to make me feel numb. It was probably the opposite, actually. 

I felt like I could feel everything at once.

It was only after I pulled my nails out of my scalp that I realized we were falling.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading! I've decided I'm going to space these chapters out just like in the actual game, and I'm also planning on altering a few spots due to the fact that I want to further the plot without getting caught up in the gameplay itself. Sorry this was so action based, I'm going to try to make the next chapter a little heavier on the story side. Thanks again, and stop by soon!


	3. Chapter 3

“…Catherine Alice Blake?”

“It’s Hartley,” I growled softly, but the officer didn't hear me.

I trudged over to the counter, carrying a demeanor like I was being persistently stalked by a giant raincloud. My eyes were stormy under my furrowed brows, and I quietly breathed out rage through my nose as the officer read out the list of my possessions I had on me a few hours ago.

“..one bottle of asprin, two packs of gum, one pen intact, three pens impartial, one pocket knife, one ring of car keys, $186 in cash and $4.67 in cents, a driver’s license, one bag of sunflower seeds, and one bag of…uh…flowers,” he rattled on, eyes tired and face devoid of any real color under these life-sucking fluorescent lights.

“Poppies,” I whispered under my breath as I swiftly snatched the bag away from him, “they’re poppies.” I repeated to myself, seeing as the ancient-looking officer had already turned away from me. I held the bag of my misplaced personal items close to my chest, quickly checking to make sure I had enough pent up anger left in me when I spotted the source of my rage and anguish across the station.

“Catherine?”

I could feel his vicious frustration all the way over from where I stood, but I couldn't read it anywhere on his face.

“Oh, thank goodness you’re all right! I was so worried about you, Catherine,” he strode over to me, speaking loudly enough so that the rest of the inhabitants could hear his obvious relief at being lovingly reunited with his precious daughter.

For a moment I feared he would bend down to embrace me, but thankfully that wasn't the case. He instead designated to putting both hands on each of my shoulders, putting enough pressure on them to make it hurt but not enough for anyone else to notice. I suppressed a wince but didn't say anything, staring at him intently with fury I tried to keep bridled.

“I’m truly sorry for any grievances she may have caused you, Mr…?” He turned to the other man that had appeared next to him in one fluid motion, holding out his hand that had once rested hotly on my shoulder in a friendly handshake. His carefully composed manner settld back onto him like a sheet would a mannequin.

“Detective Sebastian Castellanos, Councilman Blake,” the man facing him said roughly, taking his hand with calculated hesitance. I avoided his gaze astutely, choosing to glare at the tiled floor instead. “All charges have been dropped. She’s free to go.” I could feel the detective’s stony gaze on me, always professional, but gentle, too. Pitying. I couldn't take that.

“I appreciate it, detective. Thank you for taking such good care of my daughter,” my father replied, concern and gratitude dripping from his voice like honey onto an open wound. The detective’s eyes narrowed slightly, but it was enough for me to pick up on.

“I know these last few months have been hard on you both. Just make sure to keep an eye on her. I don’t think it will be necessary to see her in here again,” he said, a threat subtly edged along the cool manner he kept. In that particular moment, I wrongly thought it had been directed at me. 

“Of course not,” my father responded, mirroring the detective’s suspicious wariness. “Thanks again for your help in finding her.” He moved away from him then, gripping my arm with unseen strength as he goaded me out the door.

I felt the detective’s eyes on me as I stumbled out onto the sidewalk.

The morning sunlight hit me mercilessly, blinding me temporally as I was dragged out of the sight of the public eye and thrown into a car. He slammed the door behind me with much more force than was truly necessary, walking to the driver’s seat next to me. The smell of the rich leather still didn't sit well with me. I didn't like this car. I didn't like this city. I didn't like this man.

He didn't say anything as he drove us out of the Krimson City Police Department’s parking lot, lined with shiny new police cars the city had just purchased. I hoped there wouldn't be any fast-paced car chases or anything like that anytime soon.

I still felt his rage radiating off him in waves, crashing into me as the silence continued. I kept my plastic bag of possessions held tightly against my chest, shifting as far away from him as I could get.

“You can’t run away from me, Catherine,” he said, voice level with controlled anger. I hated it when he called me Catherine. I hated it when he used the name he had given me. I wished I had been named Alice instead of Catherine. Mom had wanted me to be Alice.

“You’re sixteen. What did you think you could do? Steal my money and run out, jump the border? What’d you do then? Plant a fucking garden?” he sneered heatedly. I could still feel his control. It wasn't gone yet. It was probably because we were still in the car. There wasn't much he could do.

I let the silence stretch between us until it wore thin. I wasn't falling into something I knew I would lose. I didn't look out the window, that just resurrected my aching need to leap out of this car right now and have myself run over my a semi on the highway.

I couldn't do that yet.

I wasn't done.

“No one will ever believe you, you know that right?” He kept his eyes trained on the road, running a hand through his light hair calmingly. His expression didn't match the action, however. It was like when you were in a room that was slightly tilted, you could feel that it was off but you couldn't really tell if it was or not. His features spelled anger in the weathered planes of his face, promising malice once he didn't have to have both hands on a steering wheel. I was too drunk on anger and disappointment to care. 

“Remember, Catherine. You can’t run away from me.”

I let my eyes close as I dug half moons into my palms, crushing a poppy as I did so.

“Remember, Catherine. Remember that your mother forgot.”

—————

“Catie? Catie, wake up. Can you here me? Catie?”

Consciousness slammed into me like I was hit by a train. Seb’s face was warbled, edges soft as wayward leaves cast shadows around us. I could smell smoke.

“Does anything hurt?” I could see that he was staring at me intently, capturing my eyes in his watchful gaze.

“Do you want the summary or the novel?” I gave him a smile that I’m sure wavered, but he gave me a small one in return anyway. He hefted me up onto my feet with a lot more vigor than I assumed a thirty-something old detective would have for being chainsawed in the calf and going through a car wreck off a cliff.

I figured I would be able to walk at least, so he lead me over to a clearing as I glanced behind me to catch the sight of the ambulance he had just dragged me out of go up in flames. Looking back ahead I noticed Seb was holding a lantern. An oil lantern.

“So, I’m pretty sure I already know the answer to this question, but I feel like I’m obligated to ask. Do you have any idea where we are?”

He hesitated. “No.”

“Okay. Well, that’s peachy,” I huffed as we neared a drop off. I strained my eyes against the darkness, zipping my jacket up and down again in nervousness. “Maybe that guy could help us.”

I pointed down to the form I saw that was cast in shadow, Seb following my gaze. He nodded towards me, light dancing over his dirtied features. 

“Hey,” he shouted, stumbled down the rocky face of the clearing. I followed close behind, landing on my feet at the bottom where he now lay. I snickered softly at his lack of balance, leading the way towards the figure that had retreated into a glowing tent.

“Stay behind me, we don’t know what we’re dealing with,” he whispered close to me, striding away as I huffed behind him.

“Maybe they’re just shy.”

As we continued towards the tent, an unsettling noise became more apparent. I stared at the back of Seb’s head intently, hoping he would glance back at me to give me some reassurance.

He didn’t.

He picked up a gun instead.

“Connelly?”

The partially-eaten head that hit the ground with a sickening thump was enough for me to take a few nice-sized steps back, cringing as Seb fired a few rounds into the creature coming towards us. It slumped over after a couple shots, and I stood behind the detective with wide eyes until he turned towards me, look so intense I grew fearful of his gaze alone.

“We need to leave,” he said lowly, checking my eyes to make sure I was comprehending everything as I should. I only nodded in response as he led me towards a cave, hoping that it was a way to somewhere that wasn't here.

“Hurts! Hurts!”

A small form materialized in the darkness of the tunnel, moving in spastic shuffles along the walls. Seb halted our strides as we came up to what seemed to be some sort of trap. The closer we got the more my migraine worsened. I tried not to wince, but the sharp pain spread itself like bony fingers over my brain.

“Were you warning us about this?” The detective must not have noticed my inner struggle as he moved towards the person slowly, careful of the wire.

And then I had a rare moment of clarity.

“Leslie?” 

The boy turned to me then, dark eyes hollowed against his pale face, light hair wild and unmanaged. He slowly let his hands rest at his sides from where they had wrapped around his head in pain, instead looking at me curiously. But he wasn't looking at me, it was more like he was looking through me, somewhere far away. Sometime far away.

“Remember. Remember. Remember!” His hands flew back up to his head, shouting the same word over again in strained tones as he shuffled into the darkness.

“Wait!” I heard Seb shout next to me, but I was lost in my own thoughts as my face screwed up in concentration. “Do you know that kid?”

—————

“Cath. Cath. Cath!”

“No, it’s Catherine, Leslie. Try it one my time,” I sighed, rolling my head into my hands. “Okay, what’s your name?”

“Leslie!”

“Good job. Okay, now for the million dollar question,” I took a pause to take in an over-dramatic breath for effect, “what is my name?”

“Cath. Cath. Cath!”

I groaned as my head fell back into my arms on the cafeteria table, barely missing a half-full carton of strawberry milk with my elbow as the boy in front of me repeated the same phrase over and over.

“You’re something else, Les,” I mumbled into the table.

—————

“I don’t know.”

The detetive looked down at me quizzically, but he didn't ask me anything. We didn't have all the time in the world at the moment. He moved away from me as he attempted to disarm the trap, which snapped open for us within a matter of seconds.

“Looks like someone needs to get some better home security,” I tried weakly, peering into the blackness hesitantly. We continued on, and I tried not to jump at every shadow until we made it out to another clearing. I almost breathed out a long sigh of relief, but that was until I spotted a very large crow feasting on a very dead man. The questions never ceased.

“We better get out of here, I have a feeling we’re not alone,” Seb said darkly.

As if on cue, a couple of supposedly dead people rose from the ground zombie-movie style, bound head to toe in barbed wire. 

“Now would be a good time to run,” I replied shakily as I grasped the detective’s arm firmly as I began to pull us away from the resurrection of the undead happening before our eyes. Two more joined their ranks as I dragged the much larger man in a frantic sprint, trying to not to look back as they continued to multiply.

“This has got to be some fucked-up dream,” I panted under my breath as a massive gate came into view. We barreled right into it, pounding against it in vain as the monsters crept closer.

“Shit,” Seb grunted, pulling me towards one of the gate’s support beams as he shoved me onto it and started climbing. I threw my gaze around me frantically as we reached the top, the legions of the undead lashing at us from below making my breath get caught in my throat. On the other side was what looked to be a dock, the black water making it impossible to tell how deep it was.

“We need to jump, Catie,” he shouted towards me as we balanced along the main beam.

“You’re more insane than I am,” I said humorlessly. Even so, I weighed our options, quickly calculating our chances of survival. If this was a test the answer would have been none of the above.

I leapt into the water before he did, feeling the disturbance in the water of his jump once I resurfaced. I sputtered out a cough, trying to catch my breath as I waded in the blackness.

Seb shook his hair out as he ran a shaking hand over his face, rubbing his eyes like a frightened cat. “You okay?”

I glanced back up at the part of the dock that lead to the gate, watching intently as a few of our previous chasers slowly receded back into the night. The cold around me froze my lungs, making it difficult to feel relieved that we had just narrowly escaped certain death. Again.

It all just didn't make sense, none of it did. It didn't feel right. I tried not to delve into that thought too deeply, because I knew more than anyone that trying to find answers to questions you didn't want to be solved could be a very dangerous thing indeed.

So I simply waded in this pool of darkness, cold catching my breath as I turned rigidly to glance behind me. That was when I saw the beacon, its light cutting through the darkness in a way that should have been comforting. Instead it felt more like a searchlight, constantly watching until it found what it was looking for, calling to you until it had what it wanted.

It stood solidly against the waves crashing into its rocky foundation, standing tall against all the death and chaos around us. Or maybe it just stood with it.

I let its light burn shadows into my eyes until I couldn't see clearly anymore. I didn’t remember if I had closed my eyes or not.

“Yeah. I’m okay.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading! Again, I'm hoping to do more development of my part of the story in the "present day" part of the game in the coming chapters, so hold on! Reviews are always welcome, and chapters should be coming every once and a while these next few weeks. I hope you enjoyed this chapter, and make sure to stop by soon!


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